


Lie-abilities of the Ladybug Cure

by FaithAndATypeWriter



Series: The Great Pretender Series [2]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Bullying, Chameleon Salt, Don't take this as what to do around a shooter, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Gun Violence, Identity Reveal, Ladybug without the mask, Lila exposed, Lila salt, NO DEATH, Protect Marinette, false information, gunshot wound
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-05
Updated: 2019-06-05
Packaged: 2020-04-08 11:03:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19105795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FaithAndATypeWriter/pseuds/FaithAndATypeWriter
Summary: Someone dangerous takes special notice of Lila's claims of what her best friend Ladybug has done for her.  Unfortunately, that someone isn't Hawkmoth.  With her class in danger, Marinette makes an impulsive decision to prevent a potential tragedy.





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> This is an idea I had about the potential aftershocks Lila's lies could cause. I felt if Ladybug had been given the chance to refute the claim that her Cure had healed Lila's preexisting condition, she would have pointed out that if it had that ability she would be spending all her free time in Hospitals helping everyone she could find that was suffering.
> 
> Please note that I really haven't done serious research about gun wounds and DEFINITELY not how to handle a situation with a shooter. In my school, we were taught to take cover, lock down, and stay away from windows. Remember, these types of situations are a lot more dangerous in real life than they seem on TV or in books, and the best I can recommend is calling for help. Again, if you are or someone you know is being bullied or treated in a way you are uncertain about, I encourage you to seek help from someone you trust (preferably an adult).  
> Blessings!  
> ~FaithAndATypeWriter

Lila didn’t consider the consequences of lying--oh, excuse me, telling people what they want to hear.  She knew what she wanted out of life and she knew how to...arrange the situation so that it worked out in her favor.  It didn’t matter what happened in the long term so long as the short term succeeded. After all, if things threatened her happiness in the future any obstacle could be dealt with when it occurred.

 

Or, perhaps she did consider the consequences but chose to continue lying anyway.  It's hard to tell what the inner workings of a person’s mind are, especially when that person only reveals herself in the falsities of her own choosing.

 

Adrien and Marinette had decided to take the high road and let Lila either choose to become truthful or deal with the consequences of her lies once they fell apart around her.  

 

Adrien didn’t want to hurt her so long as she didn’t hurt anyone else.  He didn’t know the lengths that she went to to ensure her lies; and as someone who spent a good deal of his life lonely, he could sympathize with the possible desire a new student might have to impress and gain friends.  

 

Marinette was filled with righteous fury because of the depths of Lila’s deceptions.  She might have had some jealous tinges when Lila first showed up at school, but Marinette could not be jealous of someone that used and abused people the way Lila did.  She’d experienced first hand how easily her friends had been duped by the girl, even becoming neglectful and unappreciative of their friendships with her, and she’d experienced the bite Lila possessed when threatened.  Still, all of Marinette’s efforts to reveal Lila’s lies before they did serious damage went in vain and only ended up making herself look bad. If she wanted to avoid Lila’s threat of turning her friends against her, Marinette knew she would have to change her tactics and wait patiently for Lila’s lies to crumble around her.

 

Neither Marinette nor Adrien had any idea the kind of danger Lila’s lies could bring when they finally failed her and went too far. 

 

Alya had wanted to make sure that Lila felt welcome in her new group of friends, so she made sure to include her in a few of her Ladyblog videos.  While she didn’t go into extensive detail like she did when she first interviewed Lila, Alya made references in each video about Lila being Ladybug’s best friend.

 

Marinette bit  her tongue and ignored it and, thankfully, Alya was too excited to notice Marinette’s frustration.  By the time Alya and Marinette both calmed down, the Lila moment had passed and their friendship went on and Lila wasn’t given the opportunity to compromise their relationship.  Marinette did make a comment to Alya, once, that it could be dangerous to make a public claim about being a superhero’s friend and suggested that she should at least have Ladybug confirm it.  Alya was too excited, however, and told Marinette not to worry about it.

 

Marinette was right, of course, but she had been thinking of the dangers Hawkmoth posed to the superheroes.  Unfortunately, someone did take notice of Lila’s superhero bestie. Unfortunately, it wasn’t Hawkmoth.

 

It had been a few short weeks since Lila’s reappearance and Marinette was running late to class.  Again.

 

“Late! Late! Late! Late!”  Marinette squeaked as she crashed through the doors of the school and upstairs to her classroom. 

 

“Take a second to catch your breath, Marinette, before you sneak in!”  Tikki piped up from inside her purse.

 

Marinette stood to the side of the closed door and took a second to catch her breath before she silently eased the door open.  She was surprised to see, as she started to creep in, that her class was all standing against the far wall facing a guest she hadn’t known about.  Then her heart stopped when she fully took in the situation.

 

“I have to talk to Ladybug!  She’s got that--Miraculous Ladybug...thing that she can do! She can help!”  the man cried. His arms were shaking as he aimed a handgun at Lila, who Ms. Bustier was shielding.

 

The rest of the class looked on in shocked fear as the man made his demand.  Adrien put himself as close to the man as he would allow and had a fierce look of determination on his face as he tried to reason with him.

 

“The Ladybug Cure doesn’t work like that,” Adrien spoke calmly in the hopes of easing the clearly desperate man.  “It can’t fix pre-existing conditions.”

 

“It fixed her tinnitus!  That’s what she said on her blog!” the man briefly pointed at Alya and Nino tried step in front of her.  “Ladybug has to help me! And if she’s her best friend, she’ll listen to her!”

 

Marinette froze as the man shook in place.  He was sweating profusely, and she got the sense that he was scared and unstable.  Call it Ladybug intuition, but she knew she didn’t have time to get help or even leave to transform.  She slowly and quietly eased into the room and closed the door behind her.

 

Her teacher and classmates caught sight of her and some flinched in surprise.  Adrien blanched when he realized what she was doing but he tried to hold the man’s attention so that he wouldn’t turn on Marinette.

 

“I’m sure Ladybug would be glad to help anyway she can!  Why don’t you let us post a request on the Ladyblog and she’ll come to talk to you.” he suggested.

 

“No!  It’ll take too long--who knows when she’d see that post!” the man shouted.

 

“Sir, what’s your name?” Ms. Bustier said.

 

“Why?” he asked.

 

“It would be so much… friendlier if we could introduce ourselves,” she explained.  “I’m Caline.”

 

“And I’m Adrien!” he added to cover up the sound of a squeak beneath Marinette’s foot.

 

“I’m...I’m...I… it doesn’t matter!” he yelled.  “Call Ladybug! Now!”

 

“I--she doesn’t have her phone on her!”  Lila tried.

 

“You’re lying!  Where is she?” he demanded.  “You’re her friend! She’ll come when she knows you’re in danger!”

 

“I... I’m not her friend!”  Lila blurted. 

 

“She saved your life and fixed your ear!” he screamed.

 

“I lied!  Ladybug isn’t my friend!  I don’t even like her and I never had tinn--”

 

“Bring her here!” he shouted

 

“I can’t!” Lila shrunk even more behind her teacher

 

“Then who can?”  he demanded.

 

Marinette was only a few steps away from him when Lila popped up her head and pointed at her.

 

“Marinette!  Take Marinette!  She knows Ladybug!”  the class gasped in horror at Lila’s shout.

 

Instantly the man spun around to aim at Marinette.  He was so startled his hand twitched in panic. In one swift, yet drawn out moment; Marinette grabbed his arm in a disarming hold, pushed his arms upward, and flipped him.  Just as she’d done to akumas many times. And Cat Noir on occasion.

 

Adrien leaped forward.

 

The class erupted in shrieks.

 

The gun fired.

 

The man landed hard on the floor and the gun bounced out of his hand.  Adrien kicked it to the corner as Kim and Ivan pinned the man to the ground.

 

“Marinette, you did...” Adrien voice died away as he turned to his friend.

 

The classroom had erupted into relieved chaos around them and Marinette had a smile on her face, but Adrien couldn’t join them.  He was focused on the bright red stain on Marinette’s shoulder.

 

Marinette looked dazed as Adrien reached out to support her.  She followed his gaze until she saw the wound and her mouth dropped in shock.

 

“Marinette!” Alya’s shrill yell instantly attracted the classroom’s attention as Marinette’s knees gave out beneath her.

 

She started to feel the pain in her shoulder and was overcome by dizziness as Adrien and Alya helped her to the floor.  Faces swam in front of her as different people came into view. 

 

“Gah!” she cried as a new pressure was put on her shoulder.  Someone had taken off her backpack and Adrien had taken was leaning over her with his overshirt missing.  She distantly realized he was holding it against the wound.

 

“I didn’t mean to shoot her!” The man cried.  “I wasn’t going to!”

 

“Alix, go get Principal Damocles!  Nathanael, the nurse!” Ms. Bustier ordered.  “Sabrina, call your father--have him send an ambulance!”

 

All of this was making Marinette’s head spin and she realized she was shaking when Chloe covered her with her sweater--without even a comment.  The girl was pale and just backed away, while on Marinette’s other side Alya was crying and Nino hovered, looking stunned.

 

Max was spouting out some emergency medical facts while Markov zipped in front of Marinette’s line of vision.  There were too many things going on at once and Marinette felt the pain increasing as her own panic began to rise.  She’d been shot!

 

“Marinette,” a soothing voice tried to get her attention.

 

“Marinette!”  The second time, Marinette focused her eyes on Adrien and realized he was talking to her.

 

“You’re safe.  We have you,” he reassured.  “Look at me and take slow breaths, alright?”

 

He began to take exaggerated breaths and Marinette found herself locking eyes Adrien--for once not out of a crush, but as an anchor.  Marinette tried to force herself to follow his lead and focused on him despite the fogginess of her vision. Alya calmed down enough to reach out and gently wipe away the tears that were falling down Marinette’s cheeks.

 

“You’re going to be okay, Marinette.” Adrien promised.

 


	2. Chapter Two--The Second Chapter

The rest of the day was a blur, and Marinette didn’t care to remember most of it.  She’d been treated at the hospital and eventually was told that the bullet had impacted her collarbone, which had been broken.  Her parents never left her side once she was released from recovery and admitted to her own room. Marinette never had a moment to herself, and she was immensely glad that there seemed to be a break from akumas.  Tikki managed to sneak under her covers at some point and snuggled into her side.

 

Her friends were allowed to check up on her, but between her exhaustion and pain meds she felt she wasn’t good company.

 

She was in a much better mindframe, though still shaken, when she was finally released to go back home.  That day, Adrien volunteered to have Marinette and her parents driven back home by his bodyguard and he joined her parents as they flitted around her anxiously with every move she made.   
  


“Guys, I’m not going to break!” she giggled, exasperated.

 

“Of course not!” Adrien chirped.  “Especially when we wrap you up in the bubble wrap that’s waiting in your house.”

 

She gave him a flat look and said, “Don’t give them any ideas!”

 

“Why, Marinette,” Sabine said, “What makes you think he’s not serious?”

 

“It’s not like we need to take drastic measures to ensure our brave, selfless, beautiful daughter doesn’t take part in anymore foolhardy heroics!”  Tom added.

 

Marinette groaned and prepared herself for a long car ride full of playful reprimands--which only doubled when she got home and found Alya and Nino waiting for her.

 

The entire group escorted Marinette up the stairs and settled her in her chaise--with the strict forbiddance of climbing up to her loft without assistance.  Tom left with the promise of returning with sweets and Sabine made sure Marinette was tucked in with her sling carefully supported.

 

Before leaving the teens alone, she leaned down and whispered to Marinette, “We are very proud of you dear, but don’t you  _ ever _ do something so reckless again!”

 

With the friends alone, Alya took up her position reclining next to Marinette and the boys took up seats in her computer chairs.

 

A brief awkward silence was broken when Adrien said, “You know, Marinette, we already know you’re our own everyday Ladybug--you don’t have to work so hard to prove it!”

 

That brought a relieved laugh from everyone and Alya tried to hug Marinette without hurting her shoulder.

 

“Don’t ever scare me like that again!”  Alya demanded.

 

Nino shook his head.  “Dude, Marinette, I thought you were going to--oof!”

 

Alya cut him off with a quick jab to his stomach.

 

“I can’t believe Lila threw you under the bus like that!” Alya exclaimed.

 

Adrien smirked, “You should have seen Alya after the ambulance was gone! She turned on Lila like a mad dog!  I think Lila’s going to need rabies shots!”

 

“Me?” Alya claimed.  “What about you, Sunshine?  You were, like, all levels of deadly intent!  Marinette, the guy pulls me off of Lila--don’t worry I’ve got pics of  _ that  _ for you--and with quiet, serial-killer-intensity tells her off and that if she ever comes near you again he’ll make her wish that Hawkmoth was all that she had to contend with!”

 

“That’s not even counting the blow up after the hospital when you found out what Lila said to Marinette!”  Nino added.

 

“What!”  Marinette shot up in surprise, only to cringe as her arm was jostled and have her friends jump to help her settle back.

 

Nino looked sheepish, “Heh, heh, right...we were going to wait about talking about that, weren’t we?”

 

Alya gave him a death glare before turning to Marinette.  “While you were still looped-out on pain meds, you rambled about a couple things--included that whole almost-akumatized thing and how Lila cornered you.”

 

“Oh…” Marinette cringed.  “I didn’t say anything else did I?  Because, you know, you really can’t trust what a person says when their medicated…”

 

“Marinette.” Adrien looked at her very seriously and had a sad look in his eye.  “Why didn’t you tell us Lila threatened you?”

 

Marinette stilled as all her friends waited on her answer.  She avoided looking at them as she said. “I didn’t think anyone would believe me… and if you didn’t then it would play right in to Lila’s threat of turning everyone against me.”

 

Alya shook her head and Marinette looked up in time to see her ruffly brush away a tear.  “I’m so sorry, Marinette. I really wasn’t fair to you and I let you down. I should have known that even if you were jealous you wouldn’t have held a grudge against her for it--that so isn’t you.”

 

“I never would have suggested humoring her if I’d known what Lila did, Marinette,” Adrien said, “I should have taken more action, you were right about not letting her lies grow.  At the very least, I should have checked with you about how you were handling all of this and--I don’t know... given you a chance to tell me what she said.”

 

Nino looked around as though it was his turn for a confession.  “Look, I’m just sorry we were all idiots and believed a pathological liar that nearly got us all killed.”

 

They laughed at Nino’s irreverence and Marinette caught the tip-of-the-hat he shot her way.  

 

“Thank you for the apologies,” Marinette said, “I can understand how tempting Lila’s stories were.  Like she said, she told you want she knew you most wanted to hear. Who wouldn’t want to believe that all those amazing things were true?”

 

Tom came in then with an overflowing tray of Marinette’s favorites from the bakery.  

 

They tried to stay on light-hearted topics after that, and Marinette specifically avoided asking about the shooter.  She’d already asked at the hospital and found out that he had been arrested and discovered to be a family member of someone who had been critically injured in a recent accident.  The man had not been of good mental health previously, and with his loved one’s recovery looking precarious at best it had pushed him over the edge. 

 

Alya did bring it back to the topic of Lila, eventually.  “I don’t know how were going to make this up to you, girl.  I already tried to put together a debunk-lie’n-Lila project, but it turned out to be pretty useless.  Once Lila’s mom was called to the school about the shooting, Principal Damocles was finally able to talk to her and the whole Achu/school-closing thing was revealed.  Apparently, Lila told her mom that Ladybug and Cat Noir couldn’t handle the akumas, that the akumas weren’t cleansed, and that the school was closed for the student’s safety--seriously, does her mother live under a rock?”

 

“And he calls me oblivious…” Adrien muttered.

 

“What’s that, Sunshine?” Alya asked.

 

“Nothing!” Adrien said, innocently. 

 

“Anyway,” Alya continued, “the school board is going to discuss what Lila’s punishment should be--if her mom hasn’t pulled her out by then.”

 

“It’ll be expulsion.” Nino said confidently.  “Hands down, there's no way with that much delinquency, fraud, and bullying that she has any chance of a lesser penalty.”

 

“Turns out you’re not the only one she threatened, either,” Adrien added.  “There were a few others from other classes that challenged her and she targeted them, too.”

 

Now that was somthing Marinette was surprised to hear.  She felt guilty--sure she’d almost been akumatized, but she was Ladybug!  She thought she could handle any bullying that Lila could dish out. She didn’t consider the fact that Lila could threaten anyone else.

 

“You shouldn’t have had to handle it by yourself in the first place, Marinette,” Adrien said.

 

Mariette realized she must have spoken out loud.  At least some of it… judging by Alya’s not freaking out she must have safely kept the Ladybug bit out of her blabbering mouth.

 

“It’s not your fault that Lila was hurting people, Marinette,” Alya reassured.  “But if it helps you ask for help in the future by remembering you might be helping others, than go right ahead and make that the moral of this story.”

 

Marinette laughed at that.

 

“Just promise us that--potential shooter and serial bully or not--you’ll get help if you’re being bullied or  if you’re even wondering if you’re being threatened again?” Alya asked.

 

Marinette sighed, “deal.”

 

Later, once Adrien’s car had returned to take him, Alya, and Nino home they all took turns giving Marinette a gentle hug goodbye.

 

“I’ll meet you guys downstairs, okay?”  Adrien said as they started to leave.

 

Nino raised his eyebrows and Alya donned a wicked grin as she looked between Adrien and Marinette.

 

“Oooooooh,” she drawled, “sure thing!  Just don’t take too long or that delux babysitter of yours will come after you.”

 

With one last insinuating look that had Marinette blushing, Alya closed the trap door after her.

 

“A-Adrien?” Marinette asked when he just uncertainly stood there.

 

Adrien opened his mouth and then closed it again.  “Um...just one second, okay?”

 

Without waiting for her response, he dashed up to her loft and hoisted himself up onto her balcony.  A moment later he came down again with his arms full of a giant stuffed animal wrapped around an even larger bouquet of red and pink roses.

 

Marinette gaped at him as he put them in her lap and then stepped back and stood very stiffly. 

 

“Wha-what is this?” she gasped.

 

“I was planning on bringing you something anyway, but, um, I couldn’t decide between a stuffed animal, you seem like someone that would like cuddling after all--I MEAN!--cuddly, animal-type… things…” Adrian stammered.  “Or, you know, flowers! Because, who doesn’t want flowers when they’re sick? Even though your not really sick, you got shot. Boy, is that going to sick in my nightmares forever! Anyway, um… see… in the hospital… there were a few more things you babbled about when you were out of it…”

 

Marinette realized she was holding a stuffed black cat holding a ladybug heart.  Her brain short circuited as tried to pull together what he was implying.

 

“What  _ exactly _ did I say?”  she asked.

 

“You were asking for Tikki and you said you wanted to tell Kitty not to worry.”  Adrien said in a whisper. Marinette was too frantic to realize that he was choking up.

 

“Ah!  About that!  Ha, ha…” Marinette scrambled for an excuse.  “You see… I never grew out of my childhood imaginary friend!  Yeah! Tikki, my childhood imaginary friend! And my kitty… who is also imaginary!  An imaginary friend and an imaginary cat, totally!” 

 

Adrien snorted.  “Marinette, I may not catch on to some things very quickly, but I don’t have to have the truth tattooed across my forehead before I can recognize it!”

 

Marinette waited, unsure if the truth he  _ thought _ was the truth actually  _ was _ the truth.

 

“I’ve had my suspicions, but that Kitty comment really plowed me down.”  Adrien told her. “Plus, I asked Plagg and he confirmed who Tikki is.”

 

Marinette dropped her jaw.  “Plagg…”

 

“Front and center!” the cat kwamii announced as he flew out of Adrien’s shirt.

 

Marinette stared at Adrien and Adrien smiled as he gently closed her gapping jaw.

 

“Don’t worry, Bugaboo,” he said, “I covered for you to your parents and the others.”

 

“Plagg!”  Tikki suddenly zipped out from her hiding place and glared at the completely self-satisfied kwamii.  “You didn’t have to confirm it!”

 

“Hey!  The kid on the verge of a full-on panic attack!  He was already sick about Marinette getting hurt, he was driving himself up a wall cuz he couldn’t get ahold of his Lady and he couldn’t decide if they were the same person or if something terrible had also happened to Ladybug!” Plagg argued, trying to sound flippant to hide his concern for his boy.  “By the way, once you’re done freaking out about this, you’re going to have to convince him that he didn’t fail you ‘both’ as he puts it. I’ve already tried and it didn’t work. Now it’s all he goes on about when we’re alone!”

 

That snapped Marinette out of her daze.  “What! Adrien! This isn’t your fault!” 

 

Adrien hung his head and took her hand.  “I know that we made the best decisions we could make with the information we had at the time, Marinette,” he told her, “but I will never forget seeing him hurt you.  And I will never stop going over all the ways I could have prevented this if I’d done just one thing or another different.”

 

“Please don’t punish yourself, Adrien,” Marinette squeezed his hand, “I’m not sure I handled this situation the best possible way either… I was thinking about petitioning Principal Damocles to host a seminar on school safety procedures for attacks--magic or non-magic related--and even on healthy relationships and mental health care.”

 

“I think that’s a great idea,” Adrien agreed, “I’ll spear head it with you.”

 

Marinette laughed.  “Pound it?”

 

Adrien bumped her fist and then shuffled to his feet and nervously fidgetted.

 

“I probably need to go…” he rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet as he gestured down the stairs.  “Um…before I do…”

 

He leaned down and placed a soft kiss to her cheek.

 

“I promised once that whoever was beneath Ladybug’s mask,” Adrian whispered close to her ear, “that I loved that girl.  Now that I know it’s you, Marinette, I know that that promise is true.”

 

Marinette was struck senseless again as he started to back away, but then she grabbed his hand to stop him.  

 

“You were the other boy I told you about,” her cheeks blazed as she blurted her words out, “and you’re the only one that ever came close to stealing my heart away from...yourself.”

 

Adrien’s grin widened into a full smile that Marinette loved.  He leaned back down and placed another kiss on her cheek, followed by a lingering kiss on her knuckles.  “It seems we still have plenty to discuss, M’Lady. Get some rest and maybe we can finish our conversation later with the help of a stray cat…”

 

Marinette smirked. “Fine with me!  Incidentally, if you hear incessant peals of screeching, just ignore it.  I hear it’s a common way ladybugs deal with mind-boggling, life-changing discoveries.”

 

Adrien laughed, “Until then, M’Lady!”

 

“Stay safe, Kitty,” Marinette waved.

 

Marinette shared a look with Tikki as Adrien left, Plagg grumbling about what he has to put up with.  

 

“Well,” Tikki said, “that could have gone worse!”


End file.
